It is a hefty discount of 25% from its last closing of Rs 400 a piece on the BSE in order to attract retail investors.

However, the Empowered Group of Ministers fixed a price band of Rs 300-350 for the FPO, which opens today and closes on March 12.

This was said by NMDC CMD Rana Som.

Not wanting the risk its last divestment in PSUs this fiscal in which it aims to garner Rs 25,000 crore, it is said that the government offered attractive discount.

Previously, the share sale programme of 2 other PSUs namely NTPC and REC just managed to scrape through as investors.

Particularly retail investor, had cold-shouldered them since they felt the offer price was high.

Som sounded confident that the follow-on offer would get an overwhelming response. Meanwhile, the 25% discount is given on yesterday’s closing of Rs 400 a share on the BSE.

Due to this development, shares of the company declined by a maximum of about 9% before closing at Rs 375.65, down 6% than last closing on the BSE.

Present on the occasion, Disinvestment Secretary Sumit Bose said NMDC’s FPO is different from that of the 2 power due to its intrinsic value of the miner along the mode of sale of shares adopted.

On the other hand, the government is selling 8.38% of its equity in the company or 33.22 crore shares at a face value of Rs 1 through the FPO.

It expects to raise a maximum of Rs 11,700 crore.

Earlier, the government is said to have fixed a price band of Rs.300-350 for the forthcoming follow-on public offer (FPO) of NMDC.

It is a move which may help the exchequer mobilise about Rs.11,700 crore.

The Empowered Group of Ministers fixed the price band in this range.

Previously, NMDC Ltd. had announced that it has filed the final papers for its proposed Follow-on Public Offer (FPO), through which the government is divesting its 8.38 % stake in the company.

In a filing to the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the company said that NMDC Ltd. has filed a Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) with the Registrar of Companies – Hyderabad for FPO of 33.22 crore shares of Re. 1 each by way of an offer for sale by the President of India

The company has also plans to offer a discount of 5 % on the issue price to retail investors and its employees.

NMDC was incorporated in 1958 as a Government of India fully owned public enterprise. The company is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Steel, Government of India.

The company is involved in the exploration of wide range of minerals including – iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, lime stone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tungsten, graphite, beach sands etc.

It is India’s single largest iron ore producer and exporter, presently producing about 30 mn tons of iron ore from 3 fully mechanized mines viz. – Bailadila Deposit-14/11C, Bailadila Deposit-5, 10/11A (Chhattisgarh State) and Donimalai Iron Ore Mines (Karnataka State) which are awarded ISO 9001-2000 certification.

The Company has posted a net profit of Rs. 8599.90 mn for the Q-3 ended 31st December 2009 as compared to Rs. 14249.50 mn for the corresponding period of the previous year. Total Income has decreased from Rs. 25666.80 mn for the Q-3 ended 31st December 2008 to Rs. 18334.80 mn for the for the corresponding period in 2009.

Last month, the company has announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tata Steel Ltd., to explore the possibility of acquisition, exploration and development of mines, extraction and processing of minerals, setting up integrated steel plants and other businesses of mutual interest.

He said the preparations are in full swing. The board have planned a very good opening night as well as opening ceremony with a spectacular laser and fireworks show.

Mr. Modi said the boycott by the TV news channels is continuing though they had accepted a new set of proposals two nights ago. National Broadcasters’ Association’s is a strange case. 2 nights earlier, the IPL Governing Council and their representatives had a meeting and they had agreed to allow certain amount of flexibility in their programming and amount of video footage that can be shown.

Mr. Modi said they agreed but last night came back to say they needed more concessions which the Governing Council cannot agree. The boycott continues though the IPL board would like them to cover the event but not on the new terms.

Mr. Modi also said the bone of contention was post-match programmes with IPL footage rights of which were with official broadcasters Sony only. But Modi was not too worried about IPL’s stand-off with NBA and said he expected the TRP ratings of the IPL action to get boosted.

People can watch IPL action on Sony and YouTube.

He added that the cricket fans in India were eager to see action inside the stadium after missing it last year when the tournament had to be staged in South Africa because of security concerns as it was clashing with the general elections.

The central revenue pool will be doubled as compared to last year with so many new deals having been struck by the IPL.

Clearing the first hurdle of getting the Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha wasn’t easy. Allies like Mamata Banerjee were openly angry. And Lalu and Mulayam Yadav have confirmed they will formally write to President Pratibha Patil to withdraw support to the government. But with the Left and the BJP supporting the Bill, the vote, when it eventually took place, was decisive: 186 in favour and just one against. It was also seeped in drama. In order for the debate to begin, the seven MPs who refused to let the Rajya Sabha function on Monday were evicted by marshals. They belong mainly to Lalu and Mulayam’s parties. After nine adjournments in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha on Monday, there were three adjournments in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Once the disruptor MPs were removed, the Rajya Sabha got down to business. (Read: 7 suspended MPs not sorry, critical of eviction) The debate that preceded the vote saw a rare show of unity between the Opposition and the government. In his speech, the Prime Minister congratulated the BJP and the Left for their support to the bill, and said, “This is a historic and giant step towards empowering women and a celebration of their rights.”Mamata Banerjee was angry that the Prime Minister did not hold an all-party meeting on the Bill, and said she had not been taken into confidence by the Congress about its plans. Her Trinamool Congress abstained from the vote. However, Banerjee said she does not plan to quit the government over the Women’s Bill. Mulayam and Lalu Yadav have been the most prominent opponents of the Women’s Bill arguing that it does not protect the interests of Dalits and Women. On Tuesday morning, they met the Prime Minister who hoped to bring them on board. Barely an hour later, they made it clear they hadn’t changed their minds. (Read: Women’s Bill – Yadavs meet PM, say not OK). Between them, Lalu and Mulayam have 26 MPs in the Lok Sabha. Without their support, the government is reduced to a single-digit majority in the Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, where the government is in a minority, its position is weakened further. What worries the Congress is that Lalu and Mulayam could now join the BJP and the Left in voting against the government on key issues. But Sonia Gandhi said she’s not worried. Speaking to reporters in the Lok Sabha, she said the government is stable. However, she added that she would liked to have seen old friends stay with the government on the Bill. It’s what she expressed, she said, when she met Lalu and Mulayam in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday afternoon. Referring to Lalu, she said: “He has seven daughters. I was telling him that within his family there are seven for the Bill.” The banter does not disguise the very real effort spent by Sonia Gandhi in coordinating her party’s efforts to get the Bill passed. After the Bill was deferred on Monday, an upset Gandhi told the Congress Core Committee that she wanted a vote soon. On Tuesday, she repeated this as she met senior leaders with the Prime Minister.

The scheme’s investment objective is to provide capital appreciation by predominantly investing in units of Quantum Gold Fund – Exchange Traded Fund (QGF) The scheme would allocate 90% to 100% of assets in units of Quantum Gold Fund with medium to high risk profile. Further, it would allocate up to 10% of assets in money market instruments as well as short-term corporate debt securities, CBLO and units of debt and liquid schemes of mutual funds with low risk profile.

Meanwhile, the entry load charge for the scheme will be nil. However, the scheme will charge an exit load of 1.5% if exited before 1 year from the allotment date. The minimum application amount will be Rs 500 and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter for Non SIP. Moreover. the minimum subscription (target) amount of Rs 1 lakh is expected to be raised during the NFO period.

This is in order to raise money to meet their capital adequacy norms and fund future growth.

He added that banks need to raise capital from the market and he recommends that the public sector banks raise money from market.

Meanwhile, when asked about the decision of the government to amend the SBI Act to enable it to raise money from stock markets, he said that they need to have strongly capitalized banks.

He also said that he would be very much in favour of these PSU banks diluting government stake for raising money.

It is one of the options and raising through fresh equity is other.

However, there are about 20 PSBs and as per the government policy public holding in these banks can go up to 49%.

The government introduced the SBI Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha in order to lessen its holding to 51%.

This is to bring SBI at par with other nationalised banks.

The government holds 59.41% stake in SBI now and as per the existing Act it’’s holding cannot come down below 55%.

Earlier, it was said that Indian banks are tapping the overseas bond market, as foreign debt continues to be cheap.

Bank of Baroda and Bank of India are lining up bond offerings in order to make the most of the situation.

Dollars are flowing easily and Indian banks are preparing to soak them up whereas banks are returning to the international bond markets after a two-month siesta.

Previously, it was said that the government is on the right track to achieve the target of Rs 20,000 crore it had set to raise by divesting stake in public sector units in this fiscal.

The Centre has raised Rs 4,259 crore through the initial public offers (IPO) of Oil India and power company NHPC this fiscal.

The government stated that in order to help cut costs and reduce pollution, all state-owned companies under the Department of Heavy Industry should go in for energy audits.

Ambuj Sharma, joint secretary in the department stated that they want that the remaining PSUs under the department should also do energy audit and in a time bound manner.

This would help the companies reduce on their costs and in earning carbon credits.

On January 27, 2010, it was said that as the government seeks to perk up their corporate governance standards before possible listing on the stock exchanges, it wants all public sector enterprises (PSEs) to put in place a whistle-blower policy.

A whistle-blower policy provides safeguards against victimisation of any employee should he expose wrongdoing at his workplace.

Moreover, Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries Arun Yadav stated that disinvestment process of PSUs has not been stopped but discussions were underway.

If all goes well disinvestment of 10 to 15 PSUs will take place in a year whereas after the budget session, 10 to 15 PSUs will see disinvestment in a year.

The condition was favourable for PSU’’s to go in for public issue to raise finance while a survey has been conducted in this regard.

It was said that as far as the disinvestment policy is concerned, it’’s business as usual as the government has adopted small is beautiful strategy in order to carry out stake sales.

But, however, the finance ministry has invited responses from 60 odd unlisted companies to know about their plans to shed government stake.

Not all are ready to tap the markets yet while the strategy clearly is, offloading small chunks of government equity at fairly regular intervals.

In India, public sector undertaking (PSU) is a term used for a government-owned corporation (company in the public sector). The term is used to refer to companies in which the government (either the Union Government or state or territorial governments, or both) owned a majority (51 percent or more) of the company equity.

It is set to announce up to 500 job cuts at its Newbury headquarters but Vodafone declined to comment.

However, Vodafone would lessen the number of people working for the company’’s UK operation in areas like back-office functions and middle management.

This is as a part of a new one-billion-pound cost-cutting programme announced last year.

Meanwhile, it shed 500 UK staff last year, mostly in Newbury, but also created new jobs in its retail and Internet operations.

Earlier, Vodafone Essar and Research in Motion (RIM) had announced the launch of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 Smartphone for Vodafone customers.

R. Suresh Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Vodafone Essar Kerala stated that with outstanding performance, the Smartphone delivers communication and multimedia applications and it is likely to be available at Vodafone stores priced at Rs.31,990.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Essar launched an unlimited SMS offer for its prepaid and postpaid customers in Mumbai.

With this, Vodafone prepaid customers can now avail 500 free local or national SMS daily with a bonus card of Rs 89 with a validity of 30 days.

In order to activate the offer, prepaid customers can SMS ACT SMS 89 to 144 (toll free) from their mobile phones.

Previously, Vodafone Essar stated that it has reduced roaming rates for pre- and post-paid customers across India under two schemes namely Travel Plan and Ticket Plan.

Under the Travel Plan, customers can avail roaming services at a rate of 70 paise per minute, while the Ticket Plan would offer 1.5 paise per second billing.

However, earlier, the ongoing price war in the telecom sector started when the first salvo was fired by Tata Docomo which introduced the per second billing. Reliance changed the game completely by bringing in it’’s “Simply Reliance”, and other operators followed suit.

The price war in the Indian telecom industry has taken an ugly turn with operators fighting a proxy war against each other.

Further, even though concentrated publicity campaigns attacking rival operators are seemingly untraceable to their original source, some campaigns are a tale in itself.

Meanwhile, it is said that the recent tariff war by new telecom entrants in India and the likely retaliation by incumbent operators, will have a significant impact on industry revenues and profitability.

The reduced tariffs will lower the average revenue per user (ARPUs) and operating margins for all industry players.

Vodafone is a British multinational mobile network operator headquartered in Newbury, United Kingdom. Vodafone is the world’’s largest mobile telecommunication network company, based on revenue, and has a market value of about £71.2 billion (November 2009)